NL Correspondent
Srinagar, Oct 09
More than two weeks after he went missing, a 22-year-old student from Kashmir studying in a private college in Dehradun has joined militancy, police said. Identified as Shoaib Mohammad Lone, he hails from Kashmir's Kulgam district. His family members said that despite an appeal from the mother Shoaib has not returned.
Shoaib was a B.Sc.(IT) student at Alpine Institute of Management and Technology, a private college in Dehradun, had joined the institute in 2016. J&K police officials said on Tuesday that Shoaib has joined militant ranks. “We received a missing report from the family. We have information that he has joined Hizbul Mujahideen some eight days ago,” Superintendent of Police (SP) Kulgam Harmeet Singh told.
The family lives in Bumrath village in Kulgam district. A video of Shoaib's mother appealing him to return also went viral on social media. The mother says that if “he is with any tanzeem (outfit)”, he should be “send home”. “If he doesn't return, I will take poison,” she said in the video. “I have no one else other than him (Shoaib)”
Family members of Shoaib told on Tuesday that despite the mother's appeal he has not returned. His photo carrying an AK-47 also went viral on social media confirming he has joined militant ranks. S K Chauhan, the Director of the Dehradun-based institute where Shoaib studied B.Sc.(IT), said, “He (Shoaib) was a good student. He was never involved in any mischief or fights. He completed four semesters of B.Sc.(IT) in May 2018 and he never failed an exam.” However, the fifth semester was to begin in mid-July but Shoaib did not return to college for it.
“He doesn't have father. We sent a letter to his mother in Kashmir informing about his absence from college, but he still didn't return to the college till September 19,” the Director said.
Shoaib returned to the college on September 19 but left on September 20 stating that he needed to travel to Kashmir to visit his mother who he said was unwell. He did not attend any classes on September 19 or September 20. However, Shoaib did not visit his mother. “He was at home for more than a month, before he left for college on September 12. He called home last on September 20 and spoke to his mother because she was unwell. We were not aware that he had left college for Kashmir on the same day…,” says Abdul Khaliq Lone, one of his uncles.
He said that after his phone was switched off from September 20, and after they had failed to contact him, they lodged a missing complaint. “We also received calls from his friends and they asked if he had reached home…through social media we came to know that he has joined militancy,” said Khaliq. Khaliq said that Shoaib's mother made an appeal to him to return. “She is alone at home and is unwell…we are still waiting for his return,” he said, adding that Shoaib's father was a militant who died in 1995.
Another family member of Shoaib said that they had no clue that he had joining militancy. “He was good in studies…he never told us about joining (militant ranks),” said another family member. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Rawat said, “To ensure that such incidents don't repeat, we will keep an eye on all students from other states who are coming to study in Uttarakhand”.
